You don’t actually have to stay home to complete it, but we are all asked to fill it in and say where we were that night, so we have an accurate snapshot of Australia down to the levels of census collection districts — there are about 38,000 of them in the country.

The information is very useful for business, but we’ll have to wait till the middle of next year to see the results. In the meantime you can access the wealth of data from the last census by registering for CData Online at the ABS website.

In this edition of BTalk I talk to ABS spokesperson David McHugh about what, if anything, is different this time round. You’ll also hear from Lara Wilde; her business, Local Intelligence, uses census data to provide profiles to assist individuals and businesses considering relocation to communities in rural and regional Australia.

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ABOUT PHIL

Phil Dobbie is a broadcaster and writer, with a wealth of business experience behind him too. He was a partner in an ad agency, he's been the marketing head at various technology companies and ran the Australian operation of the British Tourist Authority.

But his real love is the creation of content - as a journalist for ZDNet and others. He likes to spend time behind the microphone, creating radio shows and podcasts - he's done thousands of them, for CBS, National Australia Bank, BBC and CommsDay.

He's available to present radio shows and produce podcasts. Or any other exciting projects that come along.